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Monday, January 30, 2012

Destination: INCREDIBLE INDIA (Part 2)

I have about 3000+ pictures from this India trip but I shall trim it down to two or three pictures per place we visited. I shall also write tips and fees we paid that I could remember.

By the way, I would like to say thank you again to my darling Lyn W. for the authentic silk sari I wore during our Agra tour. I am planning to wear it again on the next Halloween Party. :D

So here are the pictures of places you should visit if you are doing the Golden Triangle Tour.

PLACES TO SEE IN AGRA:

TAJ MAHAL

The photographer we hired instructed us how to pose in our mini photo shoot session. Also, one of the perks in hiring one was he treated us like "masters". Since this was the only perfect area to be able to get the entire Taj Mahal in photo, EVERYBODY was crowding here. The photographer angrily shooed away everyone to get perfect photos us. Entrance fee was IND 750.

AGRA FORT

At every entrance of tourist spots, there will be a lot of locals
offering their tour services. Prices range from INR800 to "
just-give-me-whatever-you-think-I-deserve-for-my-service-fee". We never hired anyone for fear of
something unnecessary would happen. What we did was we bought a picture
book they sell at local bookstores. We read it as we went see the places,
kinda like being our own tourist guide.Entrance fee was INR 300.

I'TMAD-UD-DAULAH OR "BABY TAJ"

Since it was just Lyn and I who were traveling, we hired whole day
"tuk-tuk" rides to tour these places which cost around INR350. If you
get a good driver, feel free to give him more. OH!! here's a good tip, before hiring one, ALWAYS EMPHASIZE
you do not want to be brought to silk shops or tea shops or any other
shops. Tell the driver you simply want to go sightseeing and nothing
more. But, if you want to see the shops then say nothing. The drivers normally get free food or gas whenever they bring tourists to shops so they are really eager.

PLACES TO SEE IN JAIPUR:

CITY PALACE

Giant urns made out of 14,000 silver coins.

The royal family still resides here.

PEACOCK GATE ( INSIDE CITY PALACE )

One of the four themed gates depicting the four seasons and Hindu gods.

JANTAR MANTAR ( JAIPUR )

There is also one Jantar Mantar in Delhi. This is the astronomical observatories built in India during the early 1700's. This particular instrument is called Vrihat Samrat Yantra. It is a sundial that can give the time to an accuracy of two seconds DAW :D

This is called the Digamsa and I do not know what it does..

TRIPODS are not allowed to be used in tourist areas. I do not know why; they will also charge you extra if you want to use your video camera.

AMER FORT OR AMBER FORT

Wow, this a good shot noh? Pang post card? I used my old school Canon Digital Ixus for this.

SHEESH MAHAL OR MIRROR PALACE ( INSIDE AMBER FORT )

One of the many creepy experience we had gotten on film. One of the two guys on the right side was trying to take photos of us. We declined but he followed us to this point and still took a picture. At that time, we were thinking what if our faces showed up on some website?! DANG THAT GUY TO HAVE DIARRHEA!!!

Here, we were eating street food when we were advised not to! Lyn was eating Gol Guppas. She ate a lot of those "water balls". Naglilihi daw siya dyan. It was like a crunchy ball made out of maybe flour, then the vendor using his bare thumb, poked a hole on top, put chopped spicy herby something, then filled it up with spicy water.

I chose to ate these potato patties with yoghurt sauce because it was cooked and it was less spicy.

WATER PALACE

Our 15 minutes, INR 300 each camel ride. Just after the short ride, our thighs ached so bad! Camel rides are not recommended for older people.

GAITOR

Gaitor is the funeral ground of the rulers of Jaipur and has some spectacular cenotaphs.